Commander Liang, codename: LordRex, sat in the cockpit of his Cobra Attack Hovertank and mused on the day’s events. He had deployed to the purplish planet in hopes of stumbling across one of the famed Alien Bases that littered the landscape. It was now a year and a half since they had moved from the faction planets – starting the Invasion of the system.

At first, no one really wanted to know about them. Supreme Commander Frizz had stated that the bases were just the start, but so far, no units had emerged from any of the planets. The HQ ships orbiting the system had then come together, to see if anything could be done to retake the planets back. Several hundred drops and thousands of crews later, the order had come out that an all out assault didn’t work one bit. Of course, there were the occasional victories over the aliens, but their bases just kept coming. After that, Affliction and PGF had split from the Faction Alliance and attacked the aliens head on.

Only their top commanders had returned. Not one of them had spoken about what they saw, but Flostin’s eyes held such emptiness that all who saw him from then on shuddered.

So now, it was up to him to do the scouting. Just him and his army of six. Him in his Cobra, a Hermes Meka, two Akimos, a Supernova and a Wolfhound. Wandering around Konu, waiting for either a sign of the aliens, bandits or the dropship to come. The silence was shattered only by the heavy footfalls of the Mekas beside him, their feet impacting on the sandy soil. He ran a hand through his short, black hair and sighed, looking out of the viewscreens.

They had been on the planet for three days and the dropship hadn’t come yet. No bandits either, which was strange, but he convinced himself it was because they were far out of their operation zone. He checked his course, got up out of his seat and stretched. LordRex, or LR, was an enigma to most of the other factions, he was surrounded with mystery – but no one seemed to mind. A crack shot with lightning reflexes…that’s what the Supreme Commander had reportedly said about him. If only they knew what he had seen…

Suddenly, an alarm started blaring from the command console. He sat down and checked his radar view. Bandits – four of them…in Mercat tanks. He knew what those energy weapons could do to unarmoured flesh, he had seen it too many times before. He buckled down and checked his weapons…all in the green. A few steps later and they were on top of him and his team. A sharp crackling noise told his battle-hardened senses that the Hermes had fired from its ballistic weapons, striking one Mercat head on. The electric blue shimmer told him everything he needed to know. The shields of the leading one were almost depleted. He grabbed a control stick and pressed the trigger at the top.

He gritted his teeth as the emerald laser tore from the main cannon, flying towards the Scout tank like a bat out of the farthest reaches of Hell. He was rewarded with a grim note of satisfaction as the tank in front of him vanished in a cloud of smoke and fire, leaving scattered wreckage. One down, three to go. Suddenly, he found himself on the receiving end of laser fire. Purple light flashed on his viewscreen for a split second, the regenerators kicking into gear as a quarter of the shields were vaporised. Quickly reversing, he sent a quick nod to the Akimos, even though the crew inside couldn’t see him.

Various shades of green light pulsed steadily out of the twin barrels on both Mekas, lancing through the air and striking all three Mercats dead on. As the Akimos retreated, LR moved forward again, his fingers automatically moving to the second trigger, which he depressed, targeting the tank on the left. More cracking and a slight, imperceptible recoil told him that the Cobra’s ballistic weapon had discharged, along with his ballistic DeathDealer that he had slotted in. He didn’t even blink as the tank blew up, already swivelling his turrent to aim at the other two.

From out of nowhere, four streams of pure energy raced past him and slammed into the two Mercats, reducing them into slag instantly. LR unconsciously jerked back in his chair and looked at the slag. Over the vehicle intercom came the familiar tone of his girlfriend, Nisha Gressieux, Call-sign: Power Birds.

“Save some for us, Wei, we need it”.

As Weihan Liang, or Commander LordRex stared at the four heaps of melted metal and plastic in front of him, he knew that the main battle was ahead.

include my army. you could have the commander stumble across the units i lost to a hellbore meka(bandit)< a bandit base, and on e of jin's mekas. but you see my units there.(1 unmodded utility vehicle(hedgehog), a cobra hobertank, a tiger attack tank(now command unit, 3 mods), a pitviper hovertank(4 slots.) and a dual weapon.,single panther medium tnak(mod is hailfire missile launcher. so dual weapon.)

Five days later, nothing had happened. Oh sure, there was the odd lightning storm where bolts of pure power rained down from the sky like a god’s wrath – but nothing happened. The outside atmosphere was still as harsh as ever with CO2 (or carbon dioxide to the civilians) floating everywhere, the sun was shining something fierce on the sand and there were no bandits around…just the dead husks of mekas from an age old battle. It was times like this that LR wanted nothing more than to hang up his hat and retire with Nisha…go somewhere quiet and peaceful.

But then again, that wasn’t in his blood to do it.

He knew there was something here, he could feel it in his bones. Just…over the next ridge…he could see it clearly. A base! Quickly, he radioed in to the other members of his team and squinted through the targeting scope. One powerplant – large. Two refineries – medium, three basic ballistic turrents, one repair bay and…a supply dump!

OK, maybe they didn’t need the ammo that was there, but there was bound to be rations in one or two of the buildings that they could eat. After a few minutes of fighting, they were within the perimeter of the base and had changed into “planet suits”. The planet suits were thick, bulky jumpsuits with a helmet that made them look like fat astronauts, but it allowed them a four hour supply of air so they could infiltrate bandit bases.

He couldn’t explain it, but he had a bad feeling about the place. He had never gone out of his command vehicle on Konu before. He never had a reason to…the dropship always came when the call was sounded, he never lead his team into suicide missions and always looked out for his squad. He took a deep breath in and strode towards the door of the supply dump. He could see that the keypad was broken, the sliding door slightly ajar. Something was up.

Well, duh, he thought, mentally smacking himself for being so stupid. Slowly, they all ventured in, after wrenching to door open – LR, Nisha, Monica Krade (Phantom Sharks), Lidija Abdulo (Slashing Hammerheads), Kat Eldero (Midnight Griffons) and Bettina Mawo (Atomic Lizards). He knew he was odd, travelling round with five female crews, but he didn’t care what others thought. He knew he had a job to do, and that was all that mattered now.

Inky blackness and reverberating echoes. The tangible taste of fear, chaos and despair.

Sirens blare all around him. Commander Weihan Liang bolts out of bed, eyes wide and alert. Next to him, Nisha groggily wakens and stretches. Chaos all around them – guns blasting, people screaming…someone yelling at Cadet starwars again. He quickly begins packing his bag, preparing for a quick exit. It is one year earlier…his squad has not been formed yet. It is just him and Nisha. She rouses quickly after hearing explosions go off, gets dressed and packs quickly.

They exchange a glance – if this is the last time that they will see each other. Weihan slings both bags over his shoulder and grabs the keys to his Cobra. Nisha grabs two shotguns from the utility closet and they open the door.

Inky blackness, filled with screams from the soldiers. This was it. The total invasion of the two Faction Planets – Hades was the first to fall. Now it is Hellion’s turn. As they race down the twisting corridors, they hear the wet slapping footfalls of Sha’Kahr grunts. Pausing to catch their breath, they wait in ambush.

A blur of motion punctuated by two shots later and the purplish grey aliens are dead. This is only a scouting party of two. More are outside, coming in – forcing their way through the waves of defenders at the door. The Faction HQ shakes as a meka is destroyed outside. Just ahead, he can make out the form of Supreme Commander Frizz screaming out orders.

An aftershock from an explosion knocks them down before shards of white-hot metal rip through the air. If they had not fallen down, they would be dead. Looking back, he extends a hand to his girlfriend who takes it. They crawl past bodies of friends, commanders and aliens alike…hoping to get out of the base alive.

As they pass a control hub, they stand and look at the central screens. The images they see chill them to the bone. Smoking husks of Mekas litter the outside soil, hovertanks and their crew being obliterated instantaneously. All through the haze, the Sha’Kahr advance. Bizarre units trudge through shattered wrecks firing an array of brightly coloured beams, torching everything in their path.

One screen goes dark, then another. A sign that they have to leave now. Helping Frizz up, they continue to the underground garage – where their units await. Frizz screams into his headset for a dropship to come down, a garbled scream answers him. Sirens still blare out, now slowly dying out.